​The wealth of produce that we stashed in our winter storage this fall is vanishing fast. In November I never thought it would come to this, but we are out of cabbage. We are almost out of a few other roots. What we have a lot of still? Potatoes, microgreens, and kohlrabi. We will probably have spinach for a few more weeks as it seems my succession strategy is paying off. True, it is coming in months after I planned but hey, I'll take it! The good news that rises from the produces decline is, this is data and it is speaking to our growing plans for this coming year. We are going to plant more storage crops and this time next year, I expect to have a more diverse produce offering.

The mini production gap is giving us some time to lay the ground work for a new successful season. We are knee deep in plans and the greenhouse is 1/3 full. On top of that, we have had the opportunity to enjoy the company of new farmer friends which refreshes our spirit. It reminds us yet again, how different this year is from last, when we had yet to meet all the kind folks we have. We went to a gathering of farmers one evening to tell tall tales and enjoy the company of folks that know the farm drill. We went on a farm visit to a farm we really admire to see how they run their operation and learn a few things. We had beach party in our partially-full greenhouse with neighbors and fellow farmers alike. We went to a gathering of growers to discuss what actions we can take as a community to strengthen our foundation and succeed as a group. And all this community building is continuing forward! This weekend we are going to Whitney Farmstead's Pancake Open house with some farmer-friends from right down the road and a farmer friend from back east who is flying in! I linked it because it sounds so fun, I have to share the joy. But the point is, we are finally getting some time to connect with the people around us working towards similar goals. This community connection is imperative for farmers.

Small farms depend on community to survive. We count on other farmers to tell us what is and isn't working for them, to share in the costs of big orders, and to share in the joys and challenges of growing food in the unpredictable natural world. We count on our customers to come see us at market and recognize our produce as exceptional and to see and value the hard work we are putting into supplying nutritional food and give us honest feedback about their needs. We count on our families to understand when sometimes we are unable to show up for the July family get together, the big move, or when we are so tired we barely make sense but still want to bask in their presence.

Since we transplanted to Michigan from out of state, building community has required focus and acts of intention. We kicked off the trial last January with the Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference, networking, telling people about who we are and asking people about themselves and their operations. We managed to group order potatoes and cover crop seed, getting bulk discounts. We met folks at market, went to CSA fairs, and cold-called farms that we admired in our area. Now, heading into March a year and a touch later, we have a handful of growers that we can call with a question or an invitation for a libation. We have a group of customers that come see us at market, email us, and visit us on the farm. We have family that understands our needs and loves us, and loves the work we do.

I am a bit of an introvert, so all this shimmyin' and shakin' to integrate into our new space is generally difficult but I know and feel in my hear it is well worth it. However, I have to admit, I am absolutely looking forward to being the person welcoming newcomers.

Saturday: Ann Arbor and ChelseaThe Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.

You can find the CSA fair in the same location as the Chelsea winter market. Of course, Jim will be at market with our vegetables. And you will get a chance to meet Tony, a new Lake Divider! We can answer any questions you may have about our program and if you want, you can even sign up on the spot! If you are planning on shopping with us for the season, signing up to be part of our CSA will benefit you by giving you a bonus and the satisfaction of developing a relationship with your food source. For us, it evens out our cash flow for the season and helps us get an idea of what to expect for the coming season. Here is a link to details. Many farms will be there to share information about their CSA programs. It is a great chance to meet the people in your community that are dedicating themselves to growing your food.

Back at the farm, we have ended up in the paperwork, paperwork, greenhouse, paperwork cycle. But no one is complaining! It is so wonderful to step into the alternate universe of the greenhouse, especially after sitting in our cold office for a while. After I check off a few of the major items on my list for the day, I bundle up and head down the hill. Even though it is warmer than it was in Decemeber, the weather outside feels brutally cold. But step through that greenhouse door when the sun is out? You are about to experience some perfect beach weather: 75 degrees and sunny enough to need a hat. I love it.

We are using our greenhouse for all of our transplants for the field. We have our ginger, onions, celery, celery root, kale, cabbage, lettuce, first round of tomatoes, and parsley all seeded, mostly sprouted and gaining strength in the oasis. And we are using some of the space to grow microgreens. Last week was our first time bringing microgreens to market and if you were lucky, you got to try some. It was what I would call a complete success. The sold like gold bars for a penny. The Friday we harvested them was my first tasting. They have a lot of flavor in such a small package. And this time of year, the addition of anything green is welcome. I like them sprinkled on eggs, on a potato, on a sandwich., pretty much on-a anything! What are they really? The baby leaves of the plant. They take just over a week from seed to harvest. That means, because they were so loved at market, we were able to adjust our planting numbers already, and next Saturday, we will have enough to go around!

Our new planting of radishes is up in hoop-house-one. They are the size of the microgreen shoots that we are sending to market this week! But instead of plucking them from the ground now, we will wait until they make nice juicy early spring Radishes!

In other good news, we have officially hired all three of our Lake Divide Farm apprentices for the season. We are excited to work with the incoming enthusiastic team. All of them have a vibrant interest in growing sustainable food systems and learning the nuts and bolts of growing delicious food. Jim and I are excited to share what we have learned so far and add another onion layer of knowledge as collaborative effort this year.

Warmth is a-coming', the birds are hear to tell us. Green shoots peaking through the snow, rise to signal. Times a-changin' folks, this winter will fall to spring.

​It finally happened, greens are back! We have delicious micro greens available at market this week (first time ever!) and sweet spinach that survived the bitter cold of December in the safety of our hoop house. We're gonna have to keep this one short and bullet style since we have some wonderful old friends visiting us from out of state right now. They're only here till Sunday, so we're trying to squeeze every bit we can from their time here!

Very first week of Micro Greens! The first harvest has taught us a lot about yields and growth rates... also they're delicious.

Hoop house 1 is weeded, tended and reseeded

Seeding is well under the way in the greenhouse. We just finished the onion seeding (typically our largest seeding of the year) among others

Prepping for more greenhouse upgrades

Finally, FINALLY organized the office! With our first season starting so soon after we moved here last year, the office became... more disorganized than I'd prefer to admit to haha. Very nice to be back on track.

Scallions got weeded in the field

Broke the electric in the greenhouse and fixed it in the same week! An above average turnaround for us!

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. Markets, always rain or shine!(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Saturday: Ann Arbor and ChelseaThe Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.

​So much has happened this week. It usually takes me until July to get to bullet point list event sharing, but I think we might just be there now!

Operation Greenhouse Max! has been a great success! We sealed up the end walls with an extra layer of plastic, insulated the seams, cleaned and cleaned, and hung a partition so we don't have to heat the parts of the house that aren't full of plants. We also set up our new, fantastic heat mats! They are a major upgrade for us because they are able to keep the soil the perfect temperature, regardless of the ambient temperature in the greenhouse, meaning less energy usage overall. And it all came together just in time because this week, the greenhouse has come alive!

All past years, our greenhouse adventure has started with onions. This year, we pushed them back a week because we finally admitted they are always ready to go out a week before we are ready to put them out. So instead, the plant parade kicked off with celery, celery root, a gang of herbs, and tomatoes for our early hoop house! We also just embarked on our adventure with microgreens and they are coming up quick. In all likelihood they will be ready for next weeks market next Saturday the 24th.

Also freshly tucked into the greenhouse is the ginger. First we cut the seed pieces to a proper 1-2 ounce size, then we cure them, and next week we will begin pre-sprouting them. Ginger can take a long time to get going, and although we won't be putting them out until the end of April, they need this time to wake up and get pumped. Did you know that ginger is not actually a root but a rhizome? It is an underground stem that grows perpendicular to gravity. It produces roots and shoots from its nodes. Some of the worst weeds grow in the same fashion (think quack grass, creeping charlie, and Japanese knotweed), making them incredibly difficult to annihilate. That is what we are taking advantage of when we cut the ginger into smaller pieces, its ability to grow as long as there are nodes on each piece.

And to add to our rhizomatous crops, we are growing turmeric this year too! Not a lot, but just enough to test the waters and see how it sells, how it tastes, how it grows, you know curiosity, delicious curiosity. We also love its anti-inflammatory properties. It is a great whole food supplement for the aching body.

Everything about this year screams "this is so much better than last year!" It is hard not to repeat myself singing the praises of a completed greenhouse, two functioning coolers, and the addition of three hoop houses. Another big difference from last year, we have already filled both of our full-time positions! We won't be spending March and April interviewing and worrying because we will already have the helping hands lined up. Both hires are enthusiastic, interested in farming, and interested in working efficiently. We will be introducing them over the next couple weeks.

On top of that, we have a pretty good lead on filling our two summer part-time positions as well. Jim and I have been glancing at each other, afraid to face it head on and acknowledge how different this year could be. This could be the year!

I could go on and on but here are two things I can't leave out:

Some farmer friends came out and gave us some helpful tips and suggestions both on a few equipment fabrications and some cultivation ideas.

It was warm enough for us to irrigate in the hoop houses. The freshly seeded turnips and radishes really appreciated it, as did our spinach and kale. I think we are only a few weeks away from some greens!

See y'all at market!Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!Vegetables!Cabbage: Green, red, round, crinkly, smooth, ALL DELICIOUS! Check out our pseudo-brussels-cabbage too!Kohlrabi: Beastly beauties. I have been cubing and roasting them and can't get enough. I don't even peel the little ones!Potatoes: White, red skinned, and fingerlings!Radishes: Loose daikon, green meat (sweet daikon), black, watermelonRutabagaWinter squash: Long pie, spaghetti, butternutTurnips- Purple Top and a sweet white ruta-turnip (limited)

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. Markets, always rain or shine!(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Saturday: Ann Arbor and ChelseaThe Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pmand January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.

​It is so nice to not be building a greenhouse now! It is easy to forget that this time last year we didn't even have a greenhouse nor the heater installed or even the gas line run. We were about to start our seedlings in a strange tent with an electric heater. Having these things in place is really working wonders for my future vision. I am less bogged down with the basics and more able to envision the farms near future. We get to make a small investment into cultivation equipment this year and I plan to make it count. Because the basics are lining up, I got to enjoy investing hours of uninterrupted time focusing on weed control approaches for different crops. I also got to update our website (www.lakedividefarm.com). You will see our "Photos" page is still struggling, but hey, that's what facebook is for, right? And I finally created our quickbooks chart of accounts. Taxes, here we come!! Alongside these activities, I have been updating our extensive excel sheets including harvestlog, plantingschedule, and todo. I feel like this year, I really perfected harvestlog. It is going to be a breeze keeping track of how much we harvested and how much we sold this year. The purpose of all this data? To make better and better choices for our business!

In the outside realm, Jim has been working tirelessly to ready our greenhouse for the coming season. Every year we do a deep clean, making sure to get the crumbs of seasons past out of the nooks and crannies. This means emptying the greenhouse, spraying it down, sterilizing everything and returning it to its place. Why? Well, to give our transplants the best start possible. One of our biggest tools for growing delicious organic produce is to grow strong, healthy transplants. It makes them more resilient and able to recover from the shock of getting put in the field faster, compete with weeds better, and more capable of tolerating adverse conditions. Jim also patched up any breaches in the plastic and added an extra layer of plastic to the endwalls. Surprisingly, an extra layer really does make a huge difference in heat retention.

So with well on its way to spiffy and our office edging towards organization, we are on our way. Come see me tomorrow in Ann Arbor for some vegetables. Specifically, don't you really want some potatoes. They are the noodle of the soil. Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!Vegetables!Cabbage: Green, red, round, crinkly, smooth, ALL DELICIOUS! Check out our pseudo-brussels-cabbage too!Carrots: Orange, White, Yellow, and some sneaky purples (limited)Garlic by the cloveKohlrabi: Beastly beauties. I have been cubing and roasting them and can't get enough. I don't even peel the little ones!Potatoes: White, red skinned, and fingerlings!Radishes: Loose daikon, green meat (sweet daikon), black, watermelonRutabagaWinter squash: Long pie, spaghetti, butternutTurnips- Purple Top and a sweet white ruta-turnip (limited)

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. Markets, always rain or shine!(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Saturday: Ann Arbor and Chelsea (NO Chelsea this week)The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.

​Find us in Ann Arbor and Chelsea this Saturday, get your glorious roots, and ask about our CSA. This time of year is when a CSA sign-up can have the greatest positive effect for us. And when you read about all the amazing vegetables we will be growing this year, you are going to pumped. (More info on our CSA below)

The seeds are rolling in (picture of seeds in boxes). This year we had our biggest seed order yet, and are growing fifty-eight different types of vegetables and plants, and a whopping TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN DIFFERENT VARIETIES! No wonder we have to have so many spreadsheets to keep it straight! Twenty-seven different tomatoes, twelve different types of potatoes, ten different types of onions, fifteen different lettuces, what an exciting time!

We are focusing on improving our selection for the winter months. Some exciting new additions along that thought process include radicchio the spicy winter chicory, parsnips the sweet-sweet storage root, microgreens, and sprouts! Jim is heading up the microgreen and sprout division. They are interesting to us because they sprint from seed to plate, can be produced as soon as the greenhouse is in use, and have such deliciousness.

In only a few short weeks our greenhouse will be up and running and we will be starting seeds. And before we know it, we will be seeding in the field. The seasons plans are laid out like a game board ahead of me, still materializing but with bounds and ever increasing detail. This is the time to wind the clock folks!

See you at market!

CSA INFORMATIONHow it works:Open an account by prepaying and become a member. This prepayment helps the farm by guaranteeing income in the face of adverse growing conditions. For your commitment to us, a bonus will be added to your opening balance. This account can be used throughout the season to purchase produce. Balances roll over from year to year and are only void if left unused for a year or more.You won't have to worry about receiving produce that your household does not enjoy, committing to attending the market every week, or remembering to bring cash to the market. Instead, look forward to coming to one of our five weekly markets when you want and selecting the produce of your choice! You may choose from all available produce and select quantities you prefer. Your balance will be adjusted to reflect your selections without hassle. In addition to flexibility, you will receive a weekly email with your account balance, a list of available produce, and updates about farm happenings. We offer five account sizes:

All the best!Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!Vegetables!Cabbage: Green, red, round, crinkly, smooth, ALL DELICIOUS! Check out our pseudo-brussels-cabbage too!Carrots: Orange, White, Yellow, and some sneaky purples (limited)Garlic by the cloveKohlrabi: Beastly beauties. I have been cubing and roasting them and can't get enough. I don't even peel the little ones!Potatoes: White, red skinned, and fingerlings!Radishes: Loose daikon, green meat (sweet daikon), black, watermelonRutabagaWinter squash: Long pie, spaghetti, butternutTurnips- Purple Top and a sweet white ruta-turnip (limited)

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. Markets, always rain or shine!(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Saturday: Ann Arbor and Chelsea The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.

​Last week, we mulched the garlic. We took those beautiful, sunny, warm days and got out in the field. We put hay down thick in hopes that the ribbon thick nose of the garlic leaves will push through, but not the weeds. Hay is not the best option for mulching because of all the seeds in it but sometimes you work with what you've got. My hope is that the hay will keep the keep down the weeds that it plants, at least for this season. While we mulched, we saw lots of root growth, not too many cloves pushed up in the soil by ground freeze and thaw (heaving), and some leaf growth but not too much. I have a good feeling about the garlic this year.

And the notorious we? Tony, an applicant for the coming season helped out! He did an excellent job, was a pleasure to work with, and is a candidate for a position on the farm. That's right folks, we are hiring and have full-time, part-time, workshare positions available! Visit our website here for more information. Please feel free to post our job listing anywhere you think is relevant and if you think of a good place to hang a flyer, let us know and we will get on there.

In the meantime, we still have our slew of roots, tasty squash (probably the last week) and fabulous cabbage forever! We will be at both markets this week so come on out and see us!

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. Markets, always rain or shine!(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Saturday: Ann Arbor and Chelsea The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.We are currently revamping our spreadsheets. Updated balances will be in the next email. If you need your balance, don't hesitate to email.

​The Jackson County Conservation District has a newsletter. In it I learned about the new financial assistance program for creating monarch habitat, the annual tree sale coming up (with some amazing prices!) and the winter Stonefly hunt! How cool is it that we live in a place where people in my county are wading out into the waters counting winter loving insects in February!? But what about the insects who, unlike the humans on a foray, are living the cold all the time? How do they do it? I am not going to pretend to understand all the details but from my bouncing internet searches, I can tell you that the stonefly uses two strategies. It avoids the coldest of the cold temperatures by living in their larval state in the stream, insulated by ice on the waters surface. Additionally, they produce an antifreeze like substance that allows the water in their bodies to drop well below freezing temperatures without freezing. If you are interested in knowing more check out this article on Winter Stoneflies or go to the Jackson Conservation Districts Stonefly count on February 3rd (RSVP here) or check out this article written by the engaging scientist and ecology writer Holly Menninger.

In good news, daylight hours are increasing. All the more day to enjoy!

See ya at market!

P.S. To all of our CSA customers: please be aware that we are unable to update your balance in the email at the moment. Sorry for the inconvenience! As soon as we finish creating our spreadsheets for the 2018 season, balances will once again be up to date in the weekly email. Thanks for bearing with us! If you need your current balance, please email us and we'll tally it up for you!

All the best!Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!Vegetables!Cabbage: Green, red, round, crinkly, smooth, ALL DELICIOUS! Check out our pseudo-brussels-cabbage too!Carrots: Orange, White, Yellow, and some sneaky purplesGarlicKohlrabi: Beastly beauties. I have been cubing and roasting them and can't get enough. I don't even peel the little ones!Potatoes: White, red skinned, and fingerlings!Radishes: Loose daikon, green meat (sweet daikon), black, watermelonRutabagaWinter squash: Long pie, spaghetti, butternutTurnips- Purple Top and a sweet white ruta-turnip

*We send this email out before harvest, and although we do our very best to make accurate predictions, crops and quantities found at market may vary. Markets, always rain or shine!(we begin attending on dates listed above)

Saturday: Ann Arbor and Chelsea The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am to 3 pm.

The Chelsea Farmers' Market is in the cafeteria of the Washington Street Education Center at 500 Washington Street in Chelsea, It runs November through March from 9 am to 1 pm.We are currently revamping our spreadsheets. Updated balances will be in the next email. If you need your balance, don't hesitate to email.

]]>Fri, 19 Jan 2018 17:29:35 GMThttp://www.lakedividefarm.com/farm-news/whoa-january-in-ann-arbor-and-chelsea-tomorrowIt is going to be downright balmy tomorrow and it looks like the trend with last. The release of the icy death grip on our young farm means opportunity! An interesting, new to us but long heralded technique that we are trying out this year is frost seeding. Seed is spread in the morning when the ground is hard and frozen. The rise and fall of the sun thaws and freezes the ground. This cycle along with additional snowfall works the seed into the ground. Frost seeding depends on the expansion and contraction of clay in the soil to suck the seed down into the cracks. The tiny size of red clover seed, among other things, makes it an exceptional choice for its ability to work its way into the soil.

We are also rounding the bend on our seed order. We have inventoried the seeds remaining, are pushing through the crop review, and heading towards the nuts and bolts of populating our order spreadsheet. In my first few years farming, everything was a question. I didn't have any tried and true varieties that pulled through no matter how much I put them through. Selecting our seeds was like walking into a room full of strangers (granted well researched strangers but...) Now, like old buddies that tolerate some of my more reprehensible character traits, these seeds are by my side: Carmen the most delicious red frying pepper; Long Pie the fantastic pumpkin; Silver Slicer the crisp hydrating cucumber; Detroit Dark Red the sweet sweet heirloom beet. More of them. And they are in my head! I know their names. Now the strangers I bring in are easy to see. Easier to understand in the context of familiarity.

In the meantime, there are lots of delicious winter vegetable to eat. Jim and I have been enjoying a simple but hearty vegetable stew. The vegetable are sauteed with a little wine, then cooked down with some broth and flour. I think I will try this one next. Usually, I substitute in vegetables I have when items from the list are absent.

I have also discovered that the loose cabbage compare to brussels sprouts only gigantic and delicious! I cut them in half, put a touch of oil on the cut surface to allow it to sink in, season with salt and pepper and roast. In the last few minutes, I flip 'em to crisp the outer leave.

I am excited to find the crops we will trial. I am excited to succeed where we have failed. Not so excited to fail where we have succeeded but undoubtedly that will happen. Oh farming.

Can't wait to see you at market and enjoy the sunshine. ​All the best!Helen, Jim, Exie the dog, and the Lake Divide Farm Crew!

]]>Thu, 11 Jan 2018 19:11:47 GMThttp://www.lakedividefarm.com/farm-news/only-at-chelsea-winter-market-this-weekWe will only be at the Chelsea Winter Market this Saturday due to the cold temps projected for the weekend. After the market, Helen and I are heading back East for a few days to visit some family and friends, and to pick up some farm orders. We will be back in time for market next Saturday! We have a lot to do to prepare for the trip (more than we thought even!), so this will be a short email. The melting snow has revealed some very determined rutabagas and carrots in the field, which we're happy to be harvesting on this unseasonably warm afternoon. They managed to survived the deep freeze under an insulating blanket of snow. On the flip side of the thaw, the garlic we planted for the coming season has lost its blanket, and is demanding to be mulched before the weekend! Garlic is notoriously disrespectful of other peoples schedules... as I'm writing this I'm realizing that I spend too much time talking with plants. Farming has some quirky occupational hazards. Anywho, hope to see all at market!]]>